Comments on: How To Get Organized http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/how-to-get-organized/ About finding balance in your life, connecting with who you are, and creating a lifestyle where you wake up each morning eagerly anticipating the day ahead. Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:41:58 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: another amy http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/how-to-get-organized/comment-page-1/#comment-3351 another amy Sun, 05 Oct 2008 02:02:46 +0000 http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/mission-organization/#comment-3351 I read Julia Morgenstern's books on organizing time & organizing things, and they are great. I also read Make Time for your Life by Cheryl Richardson which I think everyone on earth should read! These books helped me go from being disorganized, late, and in constant disarray to getting my act together. One point that is made (in one of those books, but I can't remember which) is to make a time schedule of your life for a week. You split each day up, and then each hour. Include EVERYTHING in there. Here's a quick example of a Monday morning: Wake up. Hit snooze button twice. Get up and eat breakfast. Iron clothes, do hair & drive to work. Ok, so right there, I see that if I got up on time and had my clothes already ironed the night before, I could save myself the trouble in the morning when I'm pressed for time. Now, if you make the time calendar for the whole week, you may see that some tasks are getting no time allotted for them, yet you frantically try to squeeze them in every week. Do you allot time for laundry? Time for grocery shopping? Time to chat on the phone when a friend calls? Now here is the cool part: build in time for emergencies. Add 45 minutes or more of "padding" time, a buffer zone so that you will not be running late even IF something pushes your schedule back because you planned for this. Like, one of you kids forgot that he needs poster board and glue for a project due tomorrow. Now that you have a weekly schedule, you can plan to rearrange things to get the poster board and still not be running behind your other plans because the emergency is built in to the overall plan. It sounds easy on paper, but it has helped me immensely in real life. You will start to notice where you could make changes so that you are more efficient with getting things done. I read Julia Morgenstern’s books on organizing time & organizing things, and they are great. I also read Make Time for your Life by Cheryl Richardson which I think everyone on earth should read! These books helped me go from being disorganized, late, and in constant disarray to getting my act together. One point that is made (in one of those books, but I can’t remember which) is to make a time schedule of your life for a week. You split each day up, and then each hour. Include EVERYTHING in there. Here’s a quick example of a Monday morning: Wake up. Hit snooze button twice. Get up and eat breakfast. Iron clothes, do hair & drive to work.
Ok, so right there, I see that if I got up on time and had my clothes already ironed the night before, I could save myself the trouble in the morning when I’m pressed for time.
Now, if you make the time calendar for the whole week, you may see that some tasks are getting no time allotted for them, yet you frantically try to squeeze them in every week. Do you allot time for laundry? Time for grocery shopping? Time to chat on the phone when a friend calls? Now here is the cool part: build in time for emergencies. Add 45 minutes or more of “padding” time, a buffer zone so that you will not be running late even IF something pushes your schedule back because you planned for this. Like, one of you kids forgot that he needs poster board and glue for a project due tomorrow. Now that you have a weekly schedule, you can plan to rearrange things to get the poster board and still not be running behind your other plans because the emergency is built in to the overall plan.

It sounds easy on paper, but it has helped me immensely in real life. You will start to notice where you could make changes so that you are more efficient with getting things done.

]]> By: Krista http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/how-to-get-organized/comment-page-1/#comment-822 Krista Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:03:03 +0000 http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/mission-organization/#comment-822 Well I'm kind of a combination of the first two commenters because I'm not caught up with the laundry or the dishes and I feel very disorganized all the time! One of my biggest problems is something unplanned always happens. I have my tasks for the day all laid out but then something I didn't plan for comes along and I don't know how to adapt to it. Any advice you could give on THAT subject would be greatly appreciated. Well I’m kind of a combination of the first two commenters because I’m not caught up with the laundry or the dishes and I feel very disorganized all the time! One of my biggest problems is something unplanned always happens. I have my tasks for the day all laid out but then something I didn’t plan for comes along and I don’t know how to adapt to it. Any advice you could give on THAT subject would be greatly appreciated.

]]> By: Mrs. Mordecai http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/how-to-get-organized/comment-page-1/#comment-821 Mrs. Mordecai Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:40:01 +0000 http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/mission-organization/#comment-821 I'm always caught up with laundry and usually with dishes, but I just don't <i>feel</i> organized. I think it would make a big difference if I could just somehow feel that. I’m always caught up with laundry and usually with dishes, but I just don’t feel organized. I think it would make a big difference if I could just somehow feel that.

]]> By: Hope http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/how-to-get-organized/comment-page-1/#comment-815 Hope Tue, 04 Dec 2007 01:19:23 +0000 http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/mission-organization/#comment-815 My biggest problems are laundry and dishes. I never am finished with either one. I wake up in the morning with the best of intentions but the day never works out the way I think it will. Looking forward to the series and thank you. My biggest problems are laundry and dishes. I never am finished with either one. I wake up in the morning with the best of intentions but the day never works out the way I think it will. Looking forward to the series and thank you.

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